Thursday

Jun 7, 2018 at 2:11 AM

Remember the old Certs commercials where the beautiful blonde with the Chiclets teeth tossed her magical, cylindrical tube of goodness to her dorky jock boyfriend while an overly enthusiastic announcer proclaimed the object of their affection -- now with Retsyn -- was both a breath mint AND a candy mint? Well, then you’ll have a hint why “American Animals” is like the mint. But instead of great taste and kissable breath, you get both a documentary AND a feature film mixing and matching the real participants with the actors playing them.

So, is it a drama or a documentary? Scholars will be debating it for years. But what’s clear is how absorbing Bart Layton’s film is in the unique way it depicts 2004’s infamous “Transy Heist” at Transylvania University. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. The thieves were impressionable young vampires out to cop the school’s rich and succulent blood supply. Ha ha! But, you know what? You’re sort of right.

Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Chas Allen and Eric Borsuk are indeed a form of vampire, in the sense that they were all selfish “birds (err, bats) of prey” hungry to fill a need when the urge arose. But unlike their Old World cousin, Nosferatu, these dumb suckers did their nefarious deeds by day in lieu of night. And blood they did not seek, only draw.

What they were chasing was a book. How novel, you say. But this wasn’t just any text; it was John James Audubon's “Birds of America,” a giant (literally, each volume measures roughly 2 feet by 3 feet) bound collection of life-size watercolor paintings by the famed naturalist depicting his hundreds of feathered friends. Price tag: $12 million. Yes, you read that right. A pretty nice nest egg for whoever possesses it. In the fall of 2004, that was Transylvania U.

Spencer Reinhard, then a student at the Lexington, Ky., college, first saw the tome during an orientation in the school library, where it sat tantalizingly on display inside a glass case in the rare books vault. And all that stood between him and pilfering a fortune was middle-aged librarian Betty Jean Gooch. More on her later. But first, let’s look deeper at Spencer, the proverbial “good kid from a good home,” played with all-American gusto by talented Irishman Barry Keoghan (“Dunkirk”). Like a lot of parents, his mom and dad didn’t really approve of Spencer’s best pal, Warren; and as it turns out, rightly so.

As played by “American Horror’s” compelling bundle of evil, Evan Peters, Warren is what shrinks like to call an enabler. He hears Spencer’s fantasy about swiping the Audubon picture books, along with a first-edition copy of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” and thinks it would be just the ticket to spice up their humdrum lives. So they recruit another pair of ennui-fueled cohorts in Blake Jenner’s Chas and Jared Abrahamson’s Eric, head to Blockbuster to rent an array of heist films -- Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killing,” in particular -- invest in gobs of stage makeup and plot to pull off their daring daytime theft just “to see what happens next.”

Interspersed between the planning and imaginative casing of the joint, Layton (a documentarian by trade) inserts interviews with the real Spencer, Warren, Chas and Eric -- now 14 years wiser -- commenting on what their younger selves were thinking and fretting over, often with unreliable recollection. At one point, we even see the real Warren sitting in a car with Peters playing the 2004 version of himself. It sounds confusing, but it isn’t. Really, it’s pretty neat. Just think “I, Tonya,” only instead of Margot Robbie in the interview chair playing an older version of Tonya Harding looking back 20 years, we get the equivalent of the real Tonya Harding doing the same. So, when Layton boldly states his film is not “based on a true story,” but really IS “a true story,” he’s not kidding.

The result is a fascinating study of disaffected youth so devoid of empathy they can’t conceive of their “little prank” actually hurting anyone but themselves. How Layton finds abundant humor in this is pretty close to remarkable. These kids aren’t anywhere near what you call sympathetic, but you find yourself guiltily rooting for them while laughing at their every bumbling step. Well, at least you do until their scheme takes a dark turn. And here is where many critics have taken offense to Layton “glorifying” their dirty deeds.

I, too, was troubled, but not enough to completely dismiss what turns out to be a very clever twist on the exhausted heist genre. In fact, it’s kind of eye-opening how films like “The Italian Job,” “Rififi” and “Oceans 11” can inspire the young and impressionable by making thievery look so fun and sexy. You kinda expect the same sort of instant gratification from this endeavor when it’s time to count the spoils. It doesn’t, and that’s what makes the movie’s deadly serious ending so disquieting. These kids, who had everything to gain from their privileged upbringings, literally throw it all away by trying to fulfill a movie-inspired fantasy. It stings, too, particularly when we see and hear the real guys express remorse; their faces drooping in shame as age -- and seven years in prison -- allows them to now see how stupid and cruel they were 14 years ago.

To sell a movie this tricky is no easy task, but actors the caliber of Keoghan and Peters makes Layton’s job look effortless. Both budding stars are uncanny in portraying two youngsters whose drive and ambition far outrun their sense of civility. Yet, they render Spence and Walter just naive enough for us to comprehend the childish wonder motivating them. Like a teenager taking his dad’s car on a joyride without permission, they flash the sort of Cheshire grins that suggest their self-serving rebelliousness is only good for as long as it lasts -- which means until they get caught.

I would have liked a little more of that compunction, especially when the reality of the criminal justice system clashes with the effervescence of the youthful belief that you can get away with anything as long as you're brave and clever enough to pull it off. That alone should make “American Animals” required viewing for every teenager with ideas of circumventing the law. There are consequences for such actions, as these four arrogant kids find out, and the victims aren’t just limited to them. Just ask Betty Jean Gooch, the librarian they tased, bound and gagged.

Layton does just that, but not of Ann Dowd (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) the sensational actress playing her, but the real Betty Jean Gooch, who movingly reminds that her attackers may find atonement, but the horror -- and fear -- resulting from that fateful day back in December 2004 will continue to haunt her to the grave. For the boys, it was just a way of having kicks. For her, it was 15 or 20 minutes of pure terror no person should ever have to endure. And that’s the sobering takeaway from a film that rises far above the triteness of “crime doesn’t pay” by proving it not only steals lives and reputations, but for these four kids, it forever imprisons their souls.